Hypermobility

I spoke about the loose goose the other day. This is highly more prevalent in women, but I’ve trained enough lanky dudes to know they exist. Take a few seconds to assess yourself and the people around you:

If you have scored 4 or above on any of these, you qualify as hypermobile; or, you’re 12 years old. You lack significant muscular resistance; therefor, your joints can be highly unstable due to little muscular support. You may have or will injure yourself due to sudden joint dislocation or chronic pain induced by inflamed tissues. This doesn’t mean you are shit out of luck; in order to stiffen up your structure and train more effectively, you must prioritize, or die.

1) Understand a Stable Position

Packing the shoulder, screwing the feet into the ground, are both examples of creating torque or moment at the joint. Your goal is to wind up the joint and secure the tissues around the area. Cobra tight, and strapped down, primary locations such as the hips and shoulders will be safe. External/lateral rotation usually does a great job at securing this position. Keep your positions closer than you think; wide snatch grips and long lunges will be riskier positions. Keep close and wind it up.

2) Get Tight

Spend your warm up patterning stability. You have no reason to get loose, put the dowel down, put it down. Plank holds, waiter walks, bottom up kb walks, band pull aparts, goblet squats, and any other stability exercises. It takes 20lbs of force to cripple a lumbar spine, without any muscular contribution; learn how to brace properly:

1. Squeeze your butt as hard as you can.
2. Pull your ribcage down.
3. Squeeze your belly.
4. Screw your shoulders and head back.

3) Substitute Movements

Cleaning, snatching, and jerking may be the coolest things to do in the gym. They require explosiveness and speed; both require a tremendous degree of stability. These are what Kelly Starrett calls category 3 movements, and what other coaches call, tough shit. You can’t jump into a Ferrari (stick shift) when you can barely handle your Chevette. This doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to do these, just spend a few weeks, months, securing rigidity. 

• Snatch – Overhead Squat/Overhead Lunge
• Clean – Front Squat
• Jerk – Push Press/Strict Press

Individualize your success. You must approach mobility, stability and strength. Then and only then, power and speed.

Chesty

Thursday Lesson Plan

W/U:

Hip Mobility then…

15 shrugs
15 Tall muscle cleans
15 Over and backs
15 behind the neck push press
15 Cuban press with empty bar

Tech:

1 RM Split Clean

WOD:

1 Km Run
30 HSPU
1 Km Row